A Genius Among Leaves
by He Who Comes With the Dusk
Summary: A five year old Naruto, hiding on his birthday, gives up on everything... only to find something new. But can a brilliant ninja come to love the people that so shunned him, or will he turn his back on them forever? smart!Naruto, no pairings.
1. Rebirth

Listen, readers, I'm really, really sorry. Here's what happened:

I was planning on updating this story shortly after last time. However, schoolwork came up and I was forced to wait a week before I actually had any free time. Of course, as soon as I planned on writing another chapter, the shit hit the fan. Everything in my personal life just exploded in the worst possible manner. So, after a long time, I finally came back to the story. Looking over it, I felt that I wasn't doing it quite the way I wanted to, and rewrote it as you see below. One of my favorite things to do is to ponder as to how things in the Naruto universe work, at a scientific level. Well, I thought that the "Academy Three", as I've decided to call them, might be the best techniques to start with. If you check my profile, you'll see my ideas on what chakra is, as well as how Katon (fire release) techniques work.

I'll be deleting the other chapters soon after posting this.

---------

A certain blonde boy cowered within the bottom of the closet in which he kept the single orange jumpsuit that he wore everywhere. Currently, though, it was on him. He needed to be able to get up and run at a moment's notice. It was there in that room that he planned to sit for twenty-four hours, without food or water, with his eyes closed. All he could do was hope and pray that he would survive his fifth birthday. Unfortunately, though, Naruto knew enough to know the terrible truth: he probably wouldn't. He would try to stay on his toes, but he really wasn't as concerned about living as he once was. He let all of his worries slip away, and instead focused intensely upon the task ahead of him. He would try, but he really didn't care any more.

After the first few hours, Naruto was not able to stay alert; though he certainly wouldn't be falling asleep, he eventually found himself drifting within himself. He didn't know how he had done it, but suddenly his mind, his consciousness, found itself in a trance-like state. It felt to Naruto that he was floating inside his own body. He could hear, feel, see, smell, even taste everything with a sudden sharpness, and yet it was all so distant, so easy to forget. It was in this state that Naruto spent many more hours.

Here, in the empty void in which he was suspended, things seemed clearer. Such matters such as once seemed so puzzling and illogical—such as why the Hokage so rarely came and saw him—seemed to come into focus. All of his knowledge, bits and pieces of information that he had gathered, seemed to coalesce and form coherent ideas. It was in this dreamlike state that Naruto came to realize something, with absolute clarity. It was something that he had never noticed before: he was smart. Very smart. In all the time that he had spent running, he had never been able to stop and think. In all of his life, he had never been able to forget his troubles and to apply his mind. And now it seemed to him that he had accomplished that task—and by complete accident, too. It seemed that the villagers' vicious attacks that had ruled his life for two years—since he was thrown out of the orphanage—had finally yielded some positive results.

It was some time after he had this epiphany that Naruto felt something begin to tug on the edges of awareness. It was his senses. But he didn't want to lose this heightened sense of understanding. If you couldn't see things clearly, then why want to see things at all? With this thought, Naruto retreated within himself. The tug became harder. Naruto retreated even further. The hard tug became a pull, a scream, a shouted warning. But Naruto refused to listen. He dove further and further within himself. Suddenly, his senses portrayed to him the sound, sight of a door slamming open. The smell, that of polished metal and a strange man. Now scared, Naruto dove so deep within himself as to forget his senses, forget his danger.

Suddenly he came upon something, something that seemed to reach out to him, to bubble up through him. What rushed through him now was something incredible. Naruto saw nothing in his meditative state, but somehow he felt blue, wondrous blue, rushing up through him. The sense was euphoric. He felt as it rushed out of every pore in his body, protecting him. No, not so much protecting him. It was him. A much a part of him as anything else. Naruto didn't know how he knew this, didn't even recall puzzling this out or learning it in any way. He just knew, knew that he just knew, and knew that his knowing was something he shouldn't question, something that just was. Naruto felt the blue continuing to rush out. He could feel it slice up the man with the polished metal that had slammed open the door to his closet. The blue was a part of him, and extension of everything he was. He felt as the blue ripped through the doorframe so as to thoroughly destroy the man. He felt as it ceased its forward advance and instead began to swirl around the man. And he knew when it was done, when the man was gone, utterly destroyed. And with the man, the blue went too. And yet it didn't. While the blue that had attacked the man was gone, there was thousands, many thousand times more blue within him than that that had killed the man that surely would have killed him. And with the comforting feeling that more of the boundless energy was there to protect him if he needed it, Naruto resigned himself to leave the trance.

He opened his eyes.

Looking out of the closet, he saw what he had felt through the blue. The doorframe of the closet was in shreds, naught but scraps of wood hanging from stained drywall. The ground in front of him—up until about two feet in front of him— was also beaten, scratched, and deeply gouged. What he had felt was right about one other thing too. The man, the man that he knew had been there beyond a shadow of a doubt, was gone. Not as though he had left, but as though he had vanished, wiped off the face of the planet never to be seen again. All of this flashed through Naruto's mind in a time so short it was incalculable by even the greatest of man, or even the greatest of machines. And with the lightning fast observations, those that normally would have taken him seconds, came the reassuring fact that the intelligence that he seemed to have unlocked while in the closet was still there, still accessible. It was still the analytical powerhouse he had found it to be in the hours he had spent using it, the key to understanding so vast that he would comprehend in seconds what would take some of the greatest minds in Konohagakure hours, days, maybe even years to understand fully. And with this reassurance, Naruto wore something that he hadn't worn honestly as long as he could remember.

On Naruto's typically somber face was a smile.

Naruto walked out of the front door with that smile gone, now replaced with a stoic expression. Ahead of him was a task that he knew for certain was quite daunting. He needed to control his chakra, which he had recognized as chakra shortly after using it. And somehow, he knew that obtaining perfect control would take him a while. It might be the first time for a long time in which his new intelligence would fail him.

---------

Naruto was in the middle of a clearing in a forest, on his twelfth hour of trying to control his chakra. It was coming along swimmingly, though, and he was finding that as long as he focused, it wasn't too difficult. The first hour had been spent trying to consciously tap into his chakra, but once he had, he found that he could feel it, permanently within him, a vast ocean of power bubbling just below the surface of his skin, itching to be released. Though Naruto found it quite easy to resist this urge, it felt wonderful to let the power out. The only problem that he found was that there was a great deal of energy within him, so much so that he was completely unable to let out less than he had used against the terrible man when he first tried to release it. This amount, though, quickly tapered over the next eleven hours. Now, Naruto was having trouble releasing just a tiny amount. Anything even slightly over this threshold seemed child's play to him now, but that one point seemed fiendishly difficult to overcome. This was actually fine for Naruto. He was able to realize that without his new intelligence and focus, he would be completely unable to manage to let out what small amounts he could now easily use, even with years of practice. Though he would never give up, there were some things for which persistence couldn't help you with; like focus. After three more hours of intense work on the part of Naruto to release less than that invisible barrier he had seemed to reach, he decided that it was a lost cause. Instead he had focused on trying to let out exactly as much as he wanted too. Though for the first hour it would take him four or five tries to get fairly close to the right amount—in the range that he deemed "acceptable"—after a few more hours of work, he could get it exactly right, on the first try, almost all of the time. It was after this that Naruto began to feel a bit hungry.

With a sigh, Naruto turned around and headed off towards Ichiraku ramen. It wasn't his first choice for a meal, but with the very small stipend that the Hokage gave him, it was the only place he could afford. After all, it was the only place in the village that didn't overcharge him in any manner. Besides, he could eat a lot at once. That way, he didn't have to come back three times a day, and run a greater risk of running into the villagers. He stopped dead in his tracks as he thought this. Oh my, I really am pretty smart now. I never thought about it like that before!

And, with that, Naruto headed over to Ichiraku ramen, far less excited than he had ever been to go and eat there.

---------

Over the next week, Naruto worked tirelessly towards perfection of his control. After putting in twenty hours a day, he now found it quite simple to release any amount of chakra he wanted, regardless of the amount, from any part of his body. Except for any amount smaller than that barrier he had encountered earlier—he still found that impossible. What's more, he had discovered something else that rather pleased him. Unless he released as much as he had accidentally released against his would-be assassin, there was no noticeable drain on his reserves of that wondrous energy. And even when he did release that much, the drain was so small, he felt that he could do it a hundred times over without too much effect on himself.

It was while thinking about this, at the end of that week, that he realized there was much more he could do with chakra than simply release it in controlled bursts. He knew about jutsus, but he did not know how they were performed, apart from the hand signs that more or less everyone knew about. But when he had released his chakra to protect himself, it hadn't flown wildly out of him, it had spun out and surrounded the man. That in itself told him that it was possible to manipulate the shape of one's chakra. But what's more, there had been cuts all over. That told him that it was possible to change the properties of one's chakra. So, if he could do it unconsciously, shouldn't he try to do it on his own, while conscious?

And so it was that he began to attempt to control these two parts of his chakra. Over the next month, he found that by imagining the chakra as sharp, razor sharp, he could use it to slice through things, as though it were a blade. And just as though it were a blade, the harder and faster it was applied, the more damage it did. So after first getting the knack of envisioning his chakra as sharp, which took a whole two days to do perfectly, one hundred percent of the time, he began to learn not to simply release his chakra, but to "fling" it.

By jabbing his hand forward and releasing his "sharp" chakra he could put rough holes partly into trees, though only when he was close. He worked on this tenaciously, discovering through trial and error that he could use a small burst of chakra within his body to "propel" the chakra forward. Furthermore, he could release the chakra from only a fingertip so that it was naturally more contained, resulting in a small, clean hole that penetrated deeper than the rougher, wider one. When combined, these two discoveries allowed him to, at first, put a hole one quarter of the way through a small tree. However, after a week, he was able to put a same-sized hole all the way through a same-sized tree at a hundred yards.

What he moved onto next was very similar. Instead of jabbing his hand forward, he began to instead swipe it, as though is very fingers were blades. By continuously releasing his "sharp" chakra, as well as using an equal amount to "push" the chakra forward, he was able to cut paper-thin gashes into trees. With a week of practice with this, the paper-thin gashed could cut all the way through the tree from twenty yards.

With a little more than two weeks of "elemental" chakra manipulation practice under his belt, he moved on to the other thing that he knew was possible to control; the shape of his released chakra.

At first, he attempted releasing chakra in bursts, and controlling that. But he quickly realized that that was not working—once the chakra was out of his system, he could not give it purpose.

Then, he attempted to form the chakra into a sphere as it left his hand. After five hours of tiring practice, he finally got it to work, but the results were disappointing. All he got was a pale blue ball floating in his hand. It did not do anything though, and when touched it dispersed itself.

Seeing that yes, he could change the shape of his chakra, he decided that doing something else with it would probably work better, so he did. He tried to make it spin, like it had when it had defended him. After forming it into a cohesive sphere, he found this easy. In only ten tries, a thin strand of dark blue chakra was spinning in wild circles above his outstretched palm.

Excited by the results, Naruto did what any smart, inquisitive person would do. He experimented.

Slowly, he extended a finger from his other hand to touch the spinning chakra. When it made contact, he bit back a startled yelp as he let the his chakra scatter into the environment.

The chakra had hurt his finger, almost like it was a tiny fist hitting him at a million miles an hour. A grin spread across his face as he processed the implications of this with lightning speed.

Quickly he tested his idea. Instead of releasing just one strand, he released many. Then, trying again, he released many more. Each extra one made it considerably more difficult, but with practice and time, and twenty hours, he managed to form his wickedly spinning chakra into a sphere. Then, curious as to what it would do, he dove at a tree, driving the spiraling ball into it. With a crack, the bark crumbled and was ripped away, before the pressure on his attack was too much, and the technique forcibly released itself.

That devious grin spread across Naruto's face again. After some short hours of rest, he was up and at it again. Over the next few days he added more and more threads, in a smaller and smaller area. Slowly but steadily, the amount of chakra in the ball increased, until the color of it went to a sky-blue composed of thousands of threads to a navy blue that almost seemed to be, and almost was, one solid sphere.

For the second time, he ran at the tree, curious to see what would happen on contact. And my, was he surprised.

Unlike last time, the bark didn't buckle before being ripped away. In fact, the effects were more or less instantaneous; the moment the ball hit, bark was torn and flung in many directions, as the ball maintained its stability. Small amounts of liquids were thrown everywhere as he pierced the center of the tree, the hole he was creating expanding as flying sawdust ripped it open, essentially sandblasting it. And then it was over.

A second after hitting the tree, Naruto's arm pierced the other side, covered in water, sap, sawdust and blood. Despite his arm being stripped raw by the flying, uncontrolled, incredibly fine shards of tree, Naruto was immensely pleased by the results. Deciding to call it quits, he staggered back to his apartment, preparing for the day ahead.

---------

Naruto had awoken early that morning, walking without haste to a small hot-spring he had discovered one day while walking home. Hidden within a dense thicket of trees, and a few miles away from nearby buildings, it was a perfect place to wash off, his apartment's water supply having been cut off the day he moved in. After all, he wanted to look nice for his meeting with the Hokage today.

After spending a good thirty minutes in the cleansing water, he headed back not to his apartment, but to the Hokage tower. In an hour, he was there.

He entered the waiting room, admiring its spartan nature. The Hokage saw no need to flaunt his power and status.

Walking up to the secretary, he ignored her glare and asked politely, "Is the Hokage available?"

She seemed to bite back a bitter reply, and spit out what the Hokage had probably told her to in the event that Naruto dropped by. "Yes, just head right on up."

Naruto thanked her and walked up to the Hokage's office.

A knock on the door and a quietly spoken "Come in," and he was inside.

As Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork, he allowed a smile to spread across his face. He enjoyed Naruto's company a great deal.

"Ah, Naruto, it is good to see you again! It's been over a month since the last time you visited me!"

Naruto hesitated a moment before his reply. He hadn't thought of that. He had been so absorbed in his training that he had forgotten about the old man! But in spite of this, he was still quick in his response. "Sorry Gramps. But I've been doing some serious thinking."

"Oh really? What about?"

Naruto grinned. "Gramps, I wanna be a ninja!"

The third Hokage sighed. He had known this day would come. After all, the son of the greatest shinobi ever was more or less destined to become one himself. But he needed to be sure that this is what Naruto wanted to really do.

"Well Naruto, how sure are you about this?"

If it was possible, Naruto's grin grew even more. "More sure than you'd ever believe, Gramps!"

"And you know what that entails?"

"Yeah! I get to kick bad-guy ass!"

The seemingly decrepit old man chuckled softly. He would learn in the Academy exactly what being a ninja really meant.

"All right Naruto, I'll have you enrolled in the Academy next year. The year begins in January, and you have one month of downtime in december. That gives you about two months before your class begins."

"But Gramps, I wanna learn stuff now!"

"First of all Naruto, you should be happy. Most children don't join the Academy until they're seven years old. But there's plenty you can do. Since I taught you to read you can use the library to learn. Here, I'll even give you a special pass granting you access to the shinobi portion."

As the Hokage dug around in his desk for one of the different access-granting passes he had, Naruto had to suppress a smile. He had managed to get access to a massive wealth of information. It was wonderful.

Sarutobi quickly signed the card and then handed the boy the small slip of laminated cardstock, and the boy was immediately out the door, with a loud cry of "thanks Gramps" before he slammed the door.

Good luck Naruto. You'll need it.

---------

Naruto heaved a massive sigh as he left the Hokage tower. That had been difficult. And yet in the end, he had managed to maintain his visage of being an ignorant fool. In fact, the only reason that he had been able to pull it off at all was that he used to actually be like that.

His intentions behind acting like he did were rather simple. He was not yet sure whether or not he could trust the village. Sure, everyone he cared about lived there, but that was very few people, and everyone else treated him like shit. In fact, some of them had tried to kill him. If one of the three people he cared about were to betray him before he made some more... then he would probably turn his back on Konoha forever. But as it was, he lived and breathed for the Hokage, Ayame and Teuchi. In his eyes, everyone else was trash until proven otherwise.

Then, with a spring in his step, he set off towards the vast Konohagakure Library, pulling out his special access pass as he went.

When he got there, he showed the chuunin at the front of the Shinobi section his card and walked right through the small hardwood door. Into what was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Stretching in front of him were two rows of bookcases, one on either side. These two rows continued forward for what had to have been at least 1400 feet. Each bookcase was twenty feet wide, and there was only about five feet in between each of the two-foot thick. This continued about 90% of the way down, where all of the bookcases were replaced with racks of scrolls, all pressed tightly against each other.

In his joy, Naruto sprinted to the end, reading some of the small metal labels abundant on the edge of every bookcase. _Training manuals, chakra theory, chakra control, Ninjutsu._ All of it was wonderful to him.

He spent the rest of the day reading in there, flying through three full training manuals and skimming six books on chakra control.

What he learned that day surprised him. Apparently his chakra control could already be considered almost perfect. Though the books never specifically mentioned his techniques, they did make reference to elemental and shape manipulation, saying that they were both difficult to master, and incredibly powerful. They also mentioned other skills that used purely chakra—water walking, tree climbing. Both seemed like useful skills; both seemed foolishly easy to Naruto, who had practically done each one already.

Naruto spent every morning until January first in there, testing out what he learned after lunch, as well as perfecting what he already knew. By the time the December rolled around, he had already mastered his control over his "sharp" chakra, such that he could shoot his "arrows" a half-mile, and only his "poor" accuracy at any greater range kept him from going farther; his control over his "Spiraling Chakra Sphere" was such that he could form it in a second; water walking and tree climbing had proved trivial, mastered within one hour; the Clone, Body Replacement, and Transformation Techniques seemed the simplest things in the world to him.

But the Academy Three, as they were known, introduced him to a whole new idea. The idea of "General Ninja Stupidity", as he called it. It bothered him a great deal that nobody but him cared how the techniques actually _worked._ All that the scrolls told him to do was make the hand-sign(s), channel the chakra, say the technique name, and picture the results in his head. Furthermore, why did he even need to say the technique name or even use hand-signs? He could feel how the chakra molded, and he certainly didn't need any sort of foolish gestures or verbal components to guide his energy.

And so Naruto spent the next month studying Chakra Theory and trying to figure out how each of the Academy Three worked. The Clone and Transformation were simple to grasp the basics of. The Clone Technique forced the user's chakra into the user's own shape, creating a veritable "shell" of special chakra that mimicked the user's appearance. Essentially, by focusing on it, he forced the chakra to take on color and shape. But the significance of this was lost on most people. They only knew the hand-signs and what to picture in their head, whereas Naruto knew that he was creating a chakra construct with characteristics that he imposed his will on to create. After that, it was a simple matter to perform the technique without hand-signs and silently, and even create constructs of different shape and size. Unfortunately, they were the same as the static ball that he had created early on in his shape manipulation training—as soon as they were touched, their form was disrupted and they dissipated.

The Transformation Technique was almost identical to the Clone Technique, except instead of creating the chakra construct outside of the body, it was created around the body. This led to the small problem of a lack of physical being, so if the user Transforms into something larger than his or her physical body, the Transformation will be broken by touch, just like a normal Clone. Furthermore, if someone transforms into something smaller than themselves, they must not only create the image, but hide their own body by making light bend around it instead of bouncing off of it. This was a particularly difficult skill that most Genjutsu masters had trouble with, let alone a young boy. If not performed perfectly, the air would seem to shimmer and shift around the hidden person. Essentially, Transforming into something smaller than yourself was making a clone and turning yourself invisible at the same time. Naruto was forced to spend a week in the library studying the civilian sciences involving light in order to understand how he would do it, and he also had to spend his afternoons doing it properly.

With two weeks left until he began attending the Academy, he began his most difficult task—breaking down and understanding the Body Replacement technique, the simplest on Ninjutsu.

Naruto entered this task understanding that it would be both incredibly difficult and incredibly rewarding. He knew that the Body Replacement was not truly understood by more than a handful, because nobody had ever written it down or made it common knowledge. But he also knew that the within the well-known Body Replacement technique may lie the secrets to greater techniques, the ubiquitous Body Flicker technique as well as, and this was all too exciting to the blonde, the Flying Thunder God Technique that had made the Fourth Hokage the master ninja that he was.

What he found was exactly like what he had been expecting, though less than he had hoped. The Body Replacement was not really a replacement at all, but really just high speed movement. First, an invisible string of chakra stretched from the user's body to the object to be switched with. This led to the belief that you must be able to see what you wish to switch with. In reality, there simply needs to be nothing in between you and what you want to switch with. After contact is established, the string becomes taught. In a split second, the string contracts rapidly, flinging both the user and the object at high speeds. As they reach their intended destination, they slow down quickly, stopping when they reach where the other previously occupied.

The results saddened Naruto. Clearly, that was _not_ anything like how the Flying Thunder God and the Body Flicker worked.

With all three of the Academy Three, there was an extra component added to the Technique—a poof of "smoke". In reality, this was really just dust gathered, condensed, and released by the chakra let off during the technique. While it was an interesting way to make use of any extra chakra that most Academy students let off by accident, it was worthless for Naruto, whose control was impeccable. Except for in the Body Replacement, then the dust was useful in concealing what direction he had moved in. So he simply got rid of that component for the other two, which consequently also got rid of the "poof" sound they made when used.

So it was on January first that Uzumaki Naruto first stepped foot within Konohagakure's Ninja Academy, prepared in advance for a rather boring four years, capable of performing all three required techniques silently, perfectly, and without hand-signs. But he also knew that he would learn things that he couldn't on his own. With the help of friends he was sure to make, he could learn to trust again and stay away from the darkness. And, with a proper training regimen, he'd be able to tone his body to become that which he would need as a ninja.

And, most of all, he'd become the best liar in the world. He couldn't let a village he couldn't trust know how strong he really was, could he?

A/N: Alright, what do you think? Please review!


	2. Training

I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick recap:

Naruto survives an attempted murder and learns to use his chakra. He ends up creating two techniques, both lacking names. One shoots a bullet or blade of sharpened chakra, while the other creates a tightly compressed orb of wickedly spinning chakra. He gets the Hokage to enroll him in the Academy and starts learning the three techniques he'll need to graduate - the Transformation, Body Replacement, and the Clone Techniques. Dissatisfied with the need for hand-signs and vocalization, he sets out to understand how these three techniques work and how to do them by molding the chakra without the use of hand-signs or his voice. He succeeds, prepared to enter the Academy with quite the repertoire of skills.

---------

---------

Uzumaki Naruto walked calmly and deliberately to the Ninja Academy of Konohagakure. As he walked, his thoughts touched on many topics, but the most significant of them was how to act during his days at the Academy.

He knew a few things. First, most people older than ten years old hated him with a wicked passion that he didn't understand. However, that was not important to him as he knew that they couldn't do anything to him; he would investigate the subject later. Second, with a little bit of Taijutsu training and physical conditioning, he'd be fully capable of graduating. He was planning on studying Genjutsu on his own. Third, the best in the class was put with the dead center and dead last ranking members; he definitely _didn't_ want to show his talent and be stuck with the world's dumbest teammate. The fourth thing he knew wasn't so much something he _knew_ as something he _didn't_ know. He didn't know how the adult _ninjas_ would treat him. This would be crucial. If the instructor was nice to him, it would be a real problem to act as though he were the worst in class and get placed with a good and an excellent teammate with whom he would certainly be able to excel. Furthermore, this team was traditionally given the most skilled jounin sensei of all of them, due to the fact that the dead last would need the most improvement.

So, with these thoughts and more running through his head, Uzumaki Naruto stepped into the Academy, walked through the halls, and entered room 101, the room where all first years had most of their classes. He took a seat in the back, and waited for the others to file in.

He observed them quietly as they walked in, while ignoring the teacher sitting in the front glaring at him. Nobody in particular caught his eye, and nobody seemed to be from any prestigious clans, so he didn't think that there would be any spectacular talent in this group. He sighed and sat down, ready for one hell of a year.

---------

The year passed quickly. Nothing of any particular use was learned, so Naruto was forced to continue his studies outside of school. Since the teacher, Masanori-sensei, always seemed to "lose" his work and insist that it wasn't done, frame him for things he didn't do, and give him zeroes on his tests, Naruto saw no particular reason to even bother going, and regularly spent days at a time in the forest, training his body and his abilities. He could now do all sorts of techniques silently and without hand-signs; he had even come up with a simple term for it: if he could do a skill with no hand-signs and no sound, he had mastered it.

Mastery of even the simplest of techniques could take weeks, considering that he needed to truly understand it to bend the chakra to his will. He had taken about four weeks to master the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough technique. After all, he needed to spend a lot of that time in the library, reading up on the topics relevant to the attack. It was actually rather elegant, how it worked. The user would create a microscopic shell of super-dense chakra, impenetrable by the gasses that made up the atmosphere. The ball would expand, creating an ever-growing vacuum. Then, the user loosened the walls of the shell enough for air to rush in. The user then re-thickens the walls, so that the air is trapped within. Immediately afterwards, he splits this wall into two and shrinks the one in the middle so that the air is super-compressed. The outside shell loosens and lets air in, then hardens and splits again, compressing the air again, around the already-compressed air on the inside. The already-compressed air is released into the compressed-air shell, making it even more compressed. This process is repeated until the user has compressed the air to a level that he or she is pleased with. They then collapse one side of it, allowing the air to rush out at incredibly high speeds.

At first, this process had taken Naruto a _long_ time. But, with a week of practice, it was second-nature to him. It was almost like doing kata for Taijutsu. The more you did it, the faster and easier it got. Now he was capable of releasing massive gusts of wind capable of leveling trees in only one second of preparation. After another week, he had perfected a variant in which the walls of the final shell degraded over time, so they could be thrown into a group of people and they would detonate after a set amount of time.

The end of the year came, and, just as he had expected, the teacher failed him and made him repeat the year. It wasn't much of a loss, though. There was nobody particularly spectacular in that class, certainly nobody he cared to spend a year or two with as a genin.

The next year came, and he had begun to take up doing pranks as practice for infiltration and stealth over the short break.

Entering the classroom the day that class was set to begin, he was ecstatic to see a boy with pale white eyes and a beige jacket. A Hyuuga, for sure. This was _definitely_ a class that he wanted to graduate with. And, after seeing the determination of a boy with almost no chakra in his body, he decided that he would attempt to land himself in the middle of the rankings, so that he could team up with Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee. In fact, he became fast friends with both of them, sharing Lee's determination in bettering himself and being the only person willing to put up with Neji's glumness. Unfortunately, the teacher, Takao-sensei, was just like the last one. He was completely incapable of getting good grades with a teacher like that, and ended up failing, though through his training that year he had developed rather strong Taijutsu skills, just like Rock Lee.

But that year was not a waste. He had begun mastering more and more techniques, though most were of the non-elemental variety. Water Release techniques he had found easy, though. All he had to do was one of three things. Pull water from the air, pull it from the water, or create it in its most pure form using chakra. From there, he could simply control it as he wanted to, using his chakra to make it take shape and form.

Fire Release was also simple. Through his reading on the sciences he had discovered the chemistry of fire, as well as something called the "Fire Tetrahedron". It really made things rather easy for him. All he needed to do was condense his chakra into strings of matter called hydrocarbons. There was one particularly useful one called propane that was easily controlled by chakra and _incredibly_ combustive. A little chakra-induced heat and voila, a fireball. With the oxygen in the atmosphere and his chakra constantly forming more tetrahedrons, the fireball could last for a long time, and if he needed too he could always make his own oxygen.

After discovering how to easily create and control Water and Fire Release techniques he realized something. He was creating matter, water and propane, from what he was pretty sure was an energy, chakra. He spent the entire year experimenting with this, reading up on the civilian science of Physics, and yet he still couldn't quite figure it out. Clearly more research needed to be done, because if he had learned anything it was that everything had a reason behind it.

He didn't have enough time to learn Earth and Lightning Release techniques, and Wind Release techniques were so ridiculously varied from one to another that it was pretty much unbelievable; mastering one rarely helped you master another.

But when his next year at the Academy rolled around, he had a new resolution: Learn Genjutsu.

---------

He walked into classroom 101... again. He was getting rather tired of teachers that wouldn't let him graduate, and if it happened again he would tell the Hokage for sure. But he would still hope that it wouldn't come to that.

He took his usual seat in the back of the room, and smiled broadly at the blue-haired, pale-eyed girl that sat next to him. _Another Hyuuga, excellent._

He continued to be surprised as more people walked in. A boy with fang tattoos on his cheeks. _An Inuzuka_. A boy in a trench-coat with a popped collar and sunglasses. _An Aburame_. A boy with his hair in a telltale pine-apple shaped hair-do. _A Nara_. A really, really fat boy. _An Akimichi._ And last, but certainly not least, something that made his heart stop for a second. A boy with black hair and eyes, wearing a blue jacked with a stylized fan on the back. _An Uchiha_. The last one was both good and bad. Uchihas were notoriously dark, brooding, arrogant and ill-mannered, but they were also notoriously powerful. He could be a blessing for a team.

Naruto's heart stopped for the second time that day when the teacher walked in and smiled at him. Not the class, _him_. He could already tell that it would be an excellent year.

---------

As the final bell rang, the students got up and began to file out. As Naruto walked down to the floor-level of the room, he was stopped from leaving by Iruka-sensei. Naruto was simply flabbergasted. No one had ever taken this kind of initiative with him before.

"Naruto-kun, I understand that you've been having trouble in school. I just want you to know that I'll be here if you ever have questions or need help."

Naruto frowned. "Thank you sensei. I think I'll do alright this year though. And I promise to stop pranking."

Iruka was suddenly very happy. "Really?"

"Well, I promise to stop getting caught." Both parties smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto."

"See ya, Iruka-sensei!"

---------

Naruto sat quietly in the shinobi portion of the library, turning the pages of a small book at a rapid pace. The book was entitled _Genjutsu: The Intricate Art of Illusions_ and it was one hell of a read.

It detailed the entire theoretical practice of Genjutsu, from the application of the illusion, to the sustaining of said illusion, and how illusions affected the enemy mind.

Apparently there were two types of illusions: environmental and personal. An environmental illusion was what the Transformation and Clone Techniques were. They used chakra to create a construct that could mimic sound and touch. These affected anyone around, but they were severely limited in their scope. The most useful form of this was an invisibility technique that bent light around your body, the kind that was used to Transform into something smaller than you on a larger scale. It could even be applied to an entire structure and its contents, though that required a great deal of focus and chakra.

Personal illusions only affected one person, but they were much, much more powerful than their counterparts, albeit many times more difficult to use and maintain. Personal illusions used chakra to affect the way the brain received signals from its various systems. They were normally used by placing a technique over the enemy that allowed one to control exactly what they were seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Because these required the user to control so many variables, it was a very difficult thing to do, but they were terrifyingly effective at breaking minds and exhausting bodies.

This was, however, an endeavor that would take Naruto years to truly master. While most illusionary techniques simply required a user to focus on what was to be seen, to have a mastery over them, as Naruto called it, required one to know what the chakra needed to do to the brain in order to bring about certain reactions. For example, a complex genjutsu is made up of thousands of steps, each of the variety of apply _x_ amount of chakra to _y_.

Since this was an incredibly complex process, Naruto decided to first master the art using hand-signs and already-defined techniques. He still wouldn't vocalize the name of his technique, because that would just be stupid. It was really only there to add focus to the technique, focus that most ninja seemed completely incapable of giving.

So Naruto left the library with a book in hand, headed straight towards his favorite training ground. He let out a long sigh; it was going to be a long night.

---------

Naruto showed up at the Academy the next day dragging his feet, his arms hanging at his sides like they were dead. As he walked by Iruka's desk, he grabbed the coffee that was sitting there and drank it all in one gulp. Clearly not satisfied, he smiled wanly as Iruka just pointed towards a pitcher that was sitting in the corner of the room. Naruto trudged over and drank all of that, too.

Seemingly revitalized, he practically skipped to his usual seat in the back of the room. Coffee really did do wonders for him.

Iruka just sighed and shook his head as the bell rang and class began.

---------

Finals for the Academy had finally rolled around, and Naruto was feeling very pleased.

It was difficult, but he had managed to pull off even the trickiest of illusions. What made it particularly vexing was the fact that he had no one to practice on, and had to do it to himself. It had been a rather horrifying experience, but there were some advantages. Especially the incredible pain tolerance that he had built up as a result. However, he had been careful to very slowly build up this tolerance. Now, though, he was positive that pain would not affect him in combat, and it would take more that getting sliced up with a katana or burned with a fire technique to break his mind.

It had also made him a harder and more dangerous person. Since he was now accustomed to levels of pain that most jounin haven't even been subjected to, he thought less about hurting someone. And, since the entire thing was triggered through the brain, there were no wounds to heal, bones to set, or muscles to repair. Not that that would have been a problem; he had always healed _very_ fast, and while he didn't understand it, he didn't really need to.

His body was now lean and tightly muscled, just like a ninja's body should be. He could move at spectacular speeds, and run for hours before tiring out. If he needed to, he could reinforce his muscles with chakra and move almost faster than the human eye could see, certainly faster than most ninjas could react.

His repertoire of mastered Ninjutsu had expanded greatly, thanks to his policy of never learning another technique until he had mastered the one he was working on.

The Body Flicker was one of his most powerful techniques; while most ninja needed hand-seals and a second to gather chakra for it, he had it down to something that he could do in a fraction of a second. The Body Flicker operated by first enhancing the muscles that needed to be used, and then adding a buffer of chakra around the user, so that there was little to no wind resistance—the buffer forced air to flow around it by using microscopic little balls that spun in the direction the air needed to go in. Finally, the technique released directed bursts of chakra behind what muscles needed to be used, in a matter very similar to how Naruto propelled his chakra "bullets" and his chakra "blades".

The result was movement at an incredible speed that seemed to be teleportation. And while it was anything but, it was still incredibly powerful, and Naruto had begun building his own Taijutsu style built solely around mastery of the technique.

Still his most powerful techniques, though, were his chakra "blades", "bullets", and his incredibly powerful "spiraling sphere".

He also had his own share of accomplishments inside of the Academy as well. He had become good friends with Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru, and he had also realized how terrible a person Sasuke really was. It actually bothered him that so many girls would be so stupid as to chase him even when he clearly reciprocated none of their feelings. Of course Naruto had heard of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, but the idiot should have been at least smart enough to realize that he'd probably never catch up to his brother. He had stopped those thoughts when he caught word of the powerful Genjutsu that Itachi had used on his brother, knowing full well how powerful they could be.

So with a smile and a spring in his step, Naruto walked into room 101 to purposefully get a barely passing grade on his exam, and maintain his position as worst in the class. He didn't really _want_ to be stuck with the Uchiha, but otherwise he could be put on a team of nobodies that wouldn't pass. He knew that the Uchiha would be passed because the Council of Fire seemed to love the creepy little boy. He didn't really understand it—it was obvious that all he wanted was power and that he'd do anything to get it, and somebody would eventually offer him such power to get him away from Konoha.

But it was all alright, because Uzumaki Naruto would be there; he'd be there to pick up the pieces and put to rest a problem that would otherwise come to bite the village in the ass. Though he still wasn't quite sure if that was a bad thing.

---------

_Ah,_ thought Naruto, _how excellent. Break's definitely the best time of year. Not enough time to train with Academy in the way._

He began punching a tree, chakra keeping his hands from breaking or otherwise taking damage.

His thoughts began to drift, especially towards improving his original technique, the chakra "bullets" that he loved so much.

At long distance, things like gravity and air that don't affect it at shorter distances begin to take their toll, making it difficult to hit a target, and impossible to ensure a lethal hit.

But then he began thinking about how he could use chakra to contain fire and control water. It occurred to him that maybe he could use similar techniques to control the path of his "bullets". _Yes, _he thought,_ that's it! Wonderful! All I need to do is attach a chakra string to my target, then use that as a guide for my bullet. Maybe I can shoot the bullet through the chakra string! That's it! A hollow chakra string to shoot my bullets through!_

Ecstatic in his discovery, he started punching faster and faster so as to quickly reach the one thousand he had set himself.

As soon as that was done, he began running his usual fifteen laps around Konoha, at a rather heavy pace, the kind he might use in a light Taijutsu fight.

In a short thirty minutes he was done, his breathing slightly labored. He then began to do another fifteen laps at a dead sprint, forcing his legs to go as fast as they could. In fifteen minutes, he was done with that, and headed towards his training ground so that he could begin his usual Ninjutsu and Genjutsu practice.

It was over in an hour, him having gone through every Ninjutsu and Genjutsu he knew; his lack of screaming while practicing Genjutsu on himself was a testament to his ridiculous resilience and pain tolerance.

Then came the part that he spent the most time on; "Creation and Mastery" time, as he liked to call it. He spent roughly twelve hours a day creating, tweaking, mastering, or otherwise learning new techniques. Of course, today's was a "tracking" form of the chakra bullet that could be used from any distance and never miss.

It took him all twelve hours, but he was done, and he went home to collapse onto his bed and fall asleep.

---------

Over the next two months, he managed to perfect his "tracking bullets". The trick was just what he though it was, create a hollow "string" of chakra that latched on to the target, and then use the walls of it to guide the bullet. This was all well and good in theory, but in practice it was incredibly difficult. As the bullet traveled, it was necessary to provide small, concentrated bursts of chakra along the walls to redirect the bullet, or else it would just punch through the wall.

But after two months of working on it, twelve hours each day, it was complete, taking almost no more concentration than a normal bullet and only three times as much chakra, though beyond twenty feet that three times became greater and greater. For ten times as much chakra, he could hit a pin-sized target from a mile away. It was incredible. He'd be the perfect assassin.

It dawned on him, finally, that he was already one _hell_ of a ninja, and that by the time the Academy was over he could prove an invaluable asset to Konoha.

And then, it also occurred to him, he might not have to be. For once in his life, he had a choice. With all the power he was going to end up having, should he stay in Konoha, or should he leave and pursue his own future?

Finally, Naruto's life was looking up.

---------

---------

Alright, please, please review and let me know what you think.

Thank you very much to Goategg, with whom I came up with many of the ideas I/we have for the theory of chakra and jutsu in general, though I didn't use much of it this chapter. If you review and ask a question, I'll try to answer it.


	3. Truth

I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick recap:

Naruto enters the Academy, and is forced by biased teachers to repeat his first year twice, ending up in the class of Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, Choji, Shikamaru, Hinata, Ino, and Shino. He managed to perfect his "chakra bullet" technique, by adding a tracking element. He can perform many techniques with no hand-seals and no speaking, and has begun his foray into the deep world of Genjutsu.

---------

---------

Naruto walked into the classroom just as the bell was ringing. He looked up at his few friends—Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru—as the former waved him over to the seat next to him.

Naruto smiled as he ran up the steps in the classroom to take his seat beside them, he whispered a quick, "Hey guys," as he took his seat.

Class went on for quite a while with Shikamau sleeping, Choji munching on chips, and Naruto and Kiba kicking each other under the table, trying to see who would yell out first. Of course, Naruto won every time, thanks to his self-induced torture.

Eventually they were let out for lunch, and when they came back there was someone else in the room.

"Students, I want you all to meet Mizuki-sensei. He will be your primary instructor for Taijutsu-related exercises for the rest of the Academy."

Naruto felt like banging his head on the table. Already he had seen the looks that Mizuki was shooting him, and he would be stuck with him for three more years. However, this would make pretending to suck at Taijutsu rather easy.

_Fuck,_ he thought,_ this is gonna be one hell of a long haul._

_---------_

After a rather easy day of Taijutsu practice, Naruto had to get a _real_ work-out in. He ended up running thirty laps around Konoha, all the while maintaining an Invisibility illusion and condensing a trail of water behind him. He had recently begun learning to manipulate Earth, so as he ran, he also caused a trail of short, jagged rock to appear behind him. When he was done, sweat was practically pouring off of him and his breathing was labored. But he still had one thing left to do.

He began to walk one more lap, evaporating the water with a controlled stream of super-hot fire and destroying the rock he had created.

Probably the hardest part of the whole thing was bending light around what he had created so that nobody would see it. That alone required intense levels of focus. It was a testament to his abilities that he could manage what he did.

Satisfied that all of his skills were up to what he considered his minimum requirements, he Body Flickered to his new favorite training ground—area 44, or as it was more commonly known, the Forest of Death.

He had found it to be ideal for his purposes over Break; training there was basically survival and stealth training all day long. And it did wonders for situational awareness.

It was there that he pulled out a thick book labelled "The History of Konohagakure." He spent the rest of the day there flipping through the book, occasionally firing blades of chakra to slice straight through an animal that had snuck up on him. He even though he had erected tall walls of rock around him so that he wouldn't be interrupted.

Engrossed as he was in his learning, he didn't even realize as the sun set and a full moon arced its way above his head. When more and more creatures began to attack him, he created a moat around the walls and built a roof, so that nothing could get in. He was capable of going as long as 72 hours without sleep and still function, so it didn't matter how late he stayed up. Occasionally he used a useful Wind Release technique that replenished the oxygen content in the air by converting carbon dioxide.

Being a book about a _shinobi_ village, it was basically an epic story. And, like all good stories, it ended with good triumphing over evil, or in this case the Fourth Hokage killing the Kyuubi. The book even had a few pages dedicated to the nature of the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi, it said, was a being made out of pure chakra. It was said to be a living god in its strength, the chakra at its disposal just short of limitless, its control over it impeccable.

_But wait, that can't be right. I know that chakra can do pretty much anything. If somehow this beast had a nearly limitless amount, it wouldn't be possible for it to be defeated. It would be able to deal with any physical threat around it._

Quickly, Naruto ran over what he knew about chakra in his head.

_Chakra cannot be destroyed, for chakra is energy. All it can do is be moved, be forced to take a different shape, be forced to enter a limited space. In extreme cases, it can be forced into another chakra system, bound by complex Sealing Techniques that bound its potential._

Naruto dropped the book and channeled chakra, pulling his shirt up and looking at his belly. Sure enough, the complex-looking array of intricate seals appeared there, just as he sometimes saw it during training.

Suddenly, all the pieces fell into place. The day of his birth, the nature of chakra, the seal on his belly, the looks everyone shot him, the assassination attempt. A wide grin split his face.

_Holy shit. I'm so fucking _lucky_!_

---------

Naruto practically skipped into his classroom the day after. After all, he had learned some good things last night.

Sure, most people would assume that having a giant fox demon sealed within him would bother him, but that was just stupid. After all, to be mad or resentful about it would be pointless. The glares he got didn't bother him anymore, and the poor treatment he got from adults meant nothing to him since he had thrown himself into training.

All that the Kyuubi was now was a powerful benefit. If he was injured, he would be healed. If he was somehow, miraculously, out of chakra, then he would get more.

In fact, the Kyuubi was probably _why_ he had so much chakra. His body and spirit had adapted to having to constantly suppress such a powerful force, and as such it would be constantly expanding until he had as much chakra as the Kyuubi—as far away as that may be.

In fact, since the Kyuubi would be constantly healing him, there was a very real chance that his body would never begin to decay once it hit his prime. And what that meant was eternal youth.

Even if the Kyuubi gained the ability to talk to him it probably wouldn't be much of a problem.

However, he would have to learn the Sealing Arts, because it was definitely possible to do other useful things to that seal. And if the Kyuubi ever _did_ somehow become a problem, he'd be able to fix it.

_In fact,_ it suddenly occurred to him,_ without the Kyuubi, I might not have even become who I am. I'd be a normal ninja doing things the normal way. It's much better this way. I'm already stronger than most ninja in the village, I know, and I guess it's thanks to the Kyuubi. The only real problem is that now I can't leave until I can take on anyone here and win. Not that that's far off._

He was thinking about all of this as he listened to a lecture from Iruka on the importance of good physical training, leaning back in his chair.

That was, until something spoke in his head.

_**You're welcome, kid.**_

He was so startled that he accidentally fell over backwards in his chair, hitting his head on the table behind him.

Under his breath he murmured some choice curse words as he suddenly felt very faint. By now everyone in the class was looking at him as suddenly fell forward, smashing his head on the table in front of him and losing consciousness.

---------

Naruto opened his eyes to see a beautiful hardwood ceiling. Sitting up, he noticed that the floor looked the same, as did the walls. He was standing in between two rows of bookshelves that extended downwards far as he could see. Behind him was another wall like the ones that surrounded him. Shrugging, he began to walk forward. It took him what seemed like hours, but eventually something new came into sight. A cage. A massive, hulking cage that extended past the walls and the ceiling. Inside it was pitch black, save for two large, red, glowing eyes. Knowing full-well what it was, Naruto began to ran, anxious to hear what it had to say.

When he reached the cage, he was panting lightly. It was a _much_ farther run than he thought it would be. But that certainly didn't deter him.

"Hello Kyuubi-sama."

He was careful to be respectful.

"**Listen kid. I don't give a flying **_**fuck**_** what you have to say to me. You continue to get stronger, and you kill lots of people when you get older, and I'll leave you the **_**fuck**_** alone. Hell, I'll even give you some of my power when you want it."**

Well, that was just fine. He realized that he would, one day, need to kill people. And since he was eventually going to reveal his full power he would have plenty of work to do. Mercy was for weak-minded fools and weak-minded fools alone. Naruto may be a kind person to those that he considered friends, but his kindness ended there.

---------

---------

A/N: Sorry if you disliked the way that the Kyuubi and Naruto dealt with each other. It's just that I feel that the only reason he tried what he did with canon Naruto was that he knew he was fucking stupid and might actually get away with it. Here, he is deciding to allow Naruto to use as much power as he wants, hoping that maybe he'll use too much and be overwhelmed by its influence. Or, he might be hoping that in the heat of battle, he'll let his emotions get the best of him. (I use HE, but it's a freaking demon. It could really be whatever it wants to I think.)


	4. Scroll

I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick Recap:

Mizuki begins teaching at the Academy, and Naruto discovers the truth about the Kyuubi. He considers it a blessing, not a curse, and ends up meeting him. The Kyuubi doesn't give a god damn what Naruto does, because he knows he won't get free.

---------

---------

Naruto walked into the classroom with a sort of confidence. He seemed to be the same person that had entered the Academy six short years ago. But he had changed. His true self was far calmer, far more collected. His thoughts were organized to the point where his brain seemed to be a machine. Every action he made had a purpose, and used exactly the amount of energy that was needed. His control over his emotions was perfect. His lies were perfect, his acting impeccable.

All of those were things that tended to be found only in experienced jounin. Of course, nobody could tell, because appearing as someone you weren't was another skill of his that was mastered. Not that he was one to learn a skill and _not_ perfect it.

But those things, traits that he had gained by living six years doing nothing but lying, were not the only thing that he had gained.

He had mastered over three hundred ninja techniques. He could perform them at the drop of a hat, giving no hint towards what would happen. Frying beams of intense electricity, pillars of earth, and massive windstorms. All were within his reach. And that was saying nothing of his general mastery over both fire and water. He could create and control both like no other ninja.

His body was not perfect, there was room for improvement. He could be much stronger than he was, although his speed was higher than many jounins.

He had his own Taijutsu style, one that he had created through much hard work. It capitalized on breakneck speeds that he was able to achieve through use of a modified Body Flicker, one that he could keep active for hours on end. It was far from perfect, though, and wouldn't do him much good against someone like his friend Rock Lee, who dedicated their lives towards Taijutsu. It was still immensely powerful though, and as his natural speed increased, so did his Body Flicker speed, and by extension his strength in his special style.

He was terribly proficient at Genjutsu, able to make someone live out anything he could imagine, and he could imagine pretty much anything. Particularly powerful ones, ones that involved many, many things at once, he still needed to use hand-seals for; however, those were only ones that made the target see, feel, hear, smell, and taste something, as well as inflict unimaginable levels of pain—all while forcing them into paralysis.

He had become a Fuuinjutsu master in only two years. He seemed to take to the art like a fish takes to water. Two years was actually incredible. Namikaze Minato had taken seven years, and that was training under the greatest seal-master of the time, Jiraiya. Already, Naruto could do things with it that were unheard of before; a single explosive note could level a building, a wall would vaporize in an instant, and the chakra of another could be absorbed. One of his most useful inventions was only a day old—resistance seals. They collected air around the body and condensed it, so that movement was incredibly difficult. He had even made it so that they would slowly increase the resistance, day after day. By the end of the year, his strength and speed would be through the roof.

In the last month, he had stolen a simple katana from a high-class merchant, and was beginning to learn Kenjutsu. It was difficult to do it without an instructor, but using scrolls that he found in the library Naruto's training was coming along swimmingly. Soon he'd be able to create his own style, one that would capitalize on his ability to seamlessly integrate Ninjutsu and Genjutsu with other actions. That was his plan for the future, a style of Kenjutsu that would put him far and above others on the battlefield, with or without his use of what he considered his greatest techniques.

Those techniques would remain forever nameless to him, despite their incredible power. With the swipe of his hand, he was capable of propelling a razor-thin blade composed of chakra forward at incredible speeds. It was difficult to dodge, to say the least, and impossible to see.

He had a wickedly spinning ball of wild energy, one that was actually quite flashy, but unrivaled in raw destructive power. He had once destroyed a fifty-foot thick tree with it; beside that, a human body would be nothing.

And then there was his most powerful of the three. A chakra bullet shot forth from any point on his body, capable of piercing anything that he had ever tested it against. That fifty foot tree that he had destroyed with his deadly ball? He could go straight through four of those. What's more, it could be set a target, so that it couldn't miss. Truly the ultimate technique—silent and deadly, impossible to miss with.

On their own, all of these things were formidable abilities. Together, though, he was stronger than most ninja, at least at the skill level of a powerful ANBU captain. And to think, he was only twelve.

But that was in the back of his mind as he took his seat. He had a test to take.

It was a simple affair. Starting with one hundred multiple-choice questions, it was followed by a Taijutsu practical. Then, one had to detect an illusion and break it. Finally, they had to demonstrate mastery over a random technique from the Academy Three—this year, the Clone.

The thing was entirely too easy, and, as expected, everybody passed. Even Naruto, to some people's surprise. Mind you, he had gotten the worst possible grade to still pass, but he had passed nonetheless. In celebration, he, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were going out for barbeque that night.

---------

"Thanks for having me out here guys. I know that your parents didn't want you to, and I really appreciate it." Naruto knew he was speaking the truth; even experienced ninjas weren't confident enough in the sealing abilities of the Fourth to allow their children near him.

"It's no problem, Naruto. You're our friend, screw whatever our parents say," said Choji. Of course Choji would say that; he was almost fanatical in his loyalty to his friends—just like Naruto.

"Yeah, he's right. It doesn't make any sense, and we can't think of many bad things about you." Of course, Shikamaru would always think things through on his own.

"Yeah Naruto, we're like a pack. We stick together." Kiba, of course. His canine nature even flowed through to his speech.

"Well, thanks again guys. I have to get going."

A chorus of goodbyes saw him off, headed not towards his house, but towards one of his favorite training areas.

---------

Naruto jumped expertly from rooftop to rooftop, spanning great distances in only moments. In minutes he had crossed town and reached Training Ground 1, so named because of its close proximity to the village gates. It was excellent training to try and practice strong abilities while not alerting the guards.

He had been practicing A-class Lightning and Earth techniques when he saw a familiar face leap into the clearing.

Mizuki. The weak bastard who taught his class, purposely sabotaging his efforts because of his foolish hatred of the Kyuubi.

Strapped to his back was a massive scroll with ornate rollers. Immediately he recognized it as the Forbidden Scroll. Naruto wasn't one to pass up on an opportunity and quickly made good on this wonderful chance.

Mizuki hadn't noticed him yet, so Naruto Body Flickered behind him, and with a quick application of chakra to the base of his neck, he was knocked out.

Immediately, Naruto went into action. With frightening speed he pulled out several slips of paper from a pouch on his belt, slapping them onto the trees around the clearing. A blue barrier shimmered around the clearing once, then faded. Suddenly, Naruto could no longer hear what was going on outside the clearing, or sense any chakra outside of it.

Then, he closed his eyes as he focussed on bringing an environmental illusion into being. In an instant, anyone outside the clearing looking in would see nothing inside but dirt and grass. Even if they passed through, they would see nothing out of the ordinary.

Then, Naruto checked the scroll for any possible booby traps. Satisfied, he opened it up. Unsealing a blank scroll, a brush, and ink from his arm, he set out copying it.

Despite its size, it contained only as many as thirty techniques, the most powerful and damaging of all the forbidden techniques. In only an hour, Naruto had copied them all down.

Resealing the copy into his arm, he laid the original by Mizuki, and set out taking down his protections. The Illusion came last, and in a minute he was out of there. A minute later, and he was back home.

Unsealing and unrolling the copy, he looked down at it, beginning to read the first technique listed. It seemed quite useful, and as he read more and more about it, his eyes widened. With this, he could become the most powerful ninja in the world. With this, he could become unstoppable.

---------

---------

In case you could not tell, I skipped a good three years or so between this chapter and the last. Most things of consequence that need detailed explaining have already occurred. Naruto has met the Kyuubi, and has begun to learn many powerful ninja arts. For others, like Kenjutsu and Fuuinjutsu, I felt that it was unnecessary to outline the training involved.

Also, I feel it's rather obvious what the technique at the beginning of the scroll is.


	5. Shadows

I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick Recap:

After a time-skip, Naruto has learned many, _many_ skills. He graduates from the Academy, and runs into Mizuki trying to escape with the Forbidden Scroll. He knocks Mizuki out (so as not to incite a huge investigation) and copies the scroll. He heads back to his apartment, where he begins to read it a second time.

---------

---------

Naruto stood in the middle of a clearing in the Forest of Death. He closed his eyes concentrating for a second, before one hundred more Narutos poofed into existence. The Shadow Clone Technique had been a success.

Mastering it had actually been rather simple. He was almost ashamed to have not come up with it on his own. The user forced their chakra into every part of their body, and then "locked" the chakra in place, so that it essentially was a mold of their body.

Then, the user separated the "mold" from their body, whereby it could be copied as many times as was necessary.

Finally, the user used chakra to "fill" the "mold", essentially turning the invisible construct of pure energy into another human being.

This creation was the exact same as the original, so it had all of the knowledge and abilities of the original.

The more chakra pumped into them, the more they had access to, and by extension, the more techniques they could perform. Even when they ran out, though, they did not dispel unless the outermost layer of chakra was disturbed, in which case the chakra escaped and the clone burst as though it were a balloon with a hole poked into it.

However, if the clone willingly dispelled itself, the chakra had a sort of link to the original, and the chakra was returned.

And it was there that the most interesting thing happened.

When the chakra returned to the user, it somehow carried _information_ with it. That meant that as the chakra returned to the original, so did any information the clone had gained. And that was _amazing_.

It meant that if Naruto had a clone master a technique, then dispel itself, then _he_ would have mastered the technique. It was incredible, wonderful, a generally great thing.

And as Naruto began to walk to the Academy for his team assignment, he thought about how it would enable him.

He could have three or four clones work on mastering different techniques while he improved himself physically. It meant that his ability and knowledge would begin to increase at many times the pace from before.

It meant that his physical strength and agility, which had previously been limited by his need to spend most of his time learning and mastering new techniques, could flourish, especially with his resistance seals.

However, he did have to be careful about using too many clones. The information would become jumbled, and difficult to comprehend. Not only that, but the fact that they actually transmitted information defied logic. He'd have to figure out how that work some other time.

But still, it was a great thing that opened up many new doors.

And, as he took his seat in the Academy, he had left four clones to do just that—work on mastering the other techniques in the Forbidden Scroll.

He was rather bored when Iruka began announcing the teams. _That_ got his attention.

The first six were worthless, made up of nobodies that were destined to either retire from the ninja life or be stuck doing worthless D-Rank missions.

Then came the one he was waiting for. "Team 7 will be composed of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. They will be led by the jounin Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto took it all without a word. To be honest, it didn't surprise him. Sakura's incredible book smarts had balanced out her abysmal physical ability, so she tended to hover around the middle of the pack. Still, Naruto would have liked to be stuck with someone _other_ than one of Sasuke's fangirls. He knew that she was a lost cause when she had stood up and shouted, "Yes! In your _face_ Ino! True love prevails!"

Furthermore, it was clear that the brooding Uchiha didn't reciprocate her feelings. She was truly taken by her own dreams if she couldn't notice it.

He didn't listen very intently as Iruka announced the remaining teams, the real players.

Team 8 was comprised of Hinata, Shino and Kiba, led by Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 10 was made up of Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, led by Sarutobi Asuma

Neither of these teams were very surprising to him; it was clear that they were each perfectly built teams for what they were meant for. Team 8 made the perfect Reconnaissance team, whereas Team 10 was a versatile team with a good tactician that was excellent for taking on single targets of a high level. While they weren't quite an assassination team, they'd be very good at dealing with missing nin and the like.

But that left his team an enigma. They didn't really specialize in anything at all. In fact, they were rather weak. In reality, Sasuke was only a slightly-above-average ninja. Sure, he knew a few useful Fire techniques, but they were worthless against anyone that was faster than the average genin. It wouldn't be until he learned the stronger fire techniques, the kind that Naruto had learned and invented many of, that he would be able to pose a serious threat in the field of Ninjutsu.

His Taijutsu was good... For an Academy Student. For a genin, sure, it was good, but at least one quarter of the other genin would be able to beat him. Hell, if Hinata could get over her lack of confidence, she'd be able to wipe the floor with him.

His only Genjutsu was the clone technique, and that was relatively worthless against a strong enemy.

The only thing that would make him powerful was his yet-to-be-awakened Sharingan. When he acquired it, he'd be a major threat. Anyone would, though. With its ability to copy any technique it saw combined with powerful cognitive abilities he'd be able to dodge anything, and all he'd have to do to learn powerful techniques would be copy their jounin sensei.

Luckily, Naruto would be safe from having his abilities copied. Part of the copying process involved memorizing the hand-seals, as opposed to how exactly the chakra is molded. Furthermore, to use a technique without hand-seals or vocalization required levels of control that the Uchiha would probably never reach.

Then, there was Sakura. She was, essentially, worthless as a ninja. Sure, her chakra control was rather good, but that was because she had little-to-no chakra at all. Any techniques beyond the Academy Three would probably be beyond her because of her almost non-existent reserves. What's more, book-smarts were all fine and dandy, but they wouldn't do too much good in the field. The only way to make up for a lack of experience was how Naruto did it—plan for every possible occurrence, expect the worst possible things to happen, and you wouldn't be surprised.

And then was their jounin sensei—Hatake Kakashi. Naruto knew of him, any Konoha Shinobi that knew what they were doing knew of him. He also knew that his power was not his own, only achieved through the use of the Sharingan eye that he possessed. Not that he held that against him—a shinobi who didn't use every available tool was a fool.

He was actually rather glad to have the legendary copy-nin as a sensei. With him they could go on much more difficult missions, thanks to his incredible skill.

Then there was the question of how much of his real ability he should show. It was not unheard of for a student to hide their abilities during their time at the Academy, but how much should he let on?

He though about many possibilities, but then decided that his best bet would be to continue acting the same way that he had during the Academy—carefree and a bit obnoxious. However, he could probably tone down the obnoxious-ness a bit and be a lot more serious. After all, it was what was expected from him now that he had graduated.

For the level of his true skill, he figured that he should only let on what would be required to pass the jounin test that he was bound to have. Of course, with Sasuke on his team, it would probably be impossible to fail, but he'd do what he needed to to get it over with.

With his path decided upon, he let his mind wander as he waited for his jounin sensei to show up. It was two hours after everyone else in the room had left, and Naruto had and Naruto had taken to spinning a kunai on his finger. Another half-hour later, he was still going. The door suddenly opened and a man with silver-white hair that seemed to defy gravity stepped into the room. Naruto shot him a huge grin as he spoke.

"On the roof in one minute. Go now."

And then, just like that, he was gone in a poof of smoke.

Naruto was the first to follow, dashing out of the door. Sasuke was right behind, followed by Sakura. They all made it up there just on time.

"Well, since you seem to be capable of following orders, we'll just get started on introductions. I want each of you to tell me your name, your hobbies, your likes, dislikes, and your dreams for the future. We'll start with you, pinky."

Sakura was still catching her breath from the run, but answered quickly. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like," at this point she shot a look at Sasuke and blushed, "and I dislike Ino-pig, as well as anyone who gets in the way of true love. My hobbies are... Well, I don't have any."

"Alright, good. Now you, with the whiskers."

Naruto shot him another wide grin as he thought fast. _I'm a jinchuuriki, so he'll be reporting anything I say to somebody. I'll have to be careful to seem as though I'm fanatically loyal to Konoha. Right now it's more of a love-hate relationship._

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and learning badass techniques, and I dislike brooding emo-kids who don't give a god damn for others. My hobby is training so that I can achieve my dream... To one day become the Hokage!"

That last bit was a total lie, but absolutely perfect for seeming loyal to the village.

And then came the Uchiha.

"Good, good. Now you, the Uchiha."

Naruto heaved an internal sigh. This would be worse than he thought. Already Kakashi was subtilely stroking Sasuke's ego. He intentionally referred to him as an Uchiha so as to give him an even more inflated vision of the Uchiha as superior.

Sasuke clearly didn't miss this, smirking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like very few things, and I dislike a lot of things. My hobby is training, and my dream is more of an ambition. To kill a... certain man."

Naruto wanted to laugh. At this rate, Sasuke would never even come _close_ to Itachi's level of skill.

Kakashi spoke next. "Meet me at Training Ground 11 tomorrow, 0700 hours sharp, for your genin test. And you probably shouldn't eat any breakfast, you'll just end up throwing it up."

"But sensei, we already passed a genin test!" said Sakura.

"That was only to see if you had the bare requirements to become one. To actually be good enough to become one, you have to pass your jounin-sensei's test. If you fail, you're sent back to the Academy for another year, where the whole process repeats again. And I'll tell you a secret: Only 33 percent of genin actually pass. Adios!"

And with another poof of smoke, Kakashi was gone. Naruto followed immediately afterwards, headed towards the Forest of Death for training.

---------

The next day, Naruto woke up at 5:00 am, immediately preparing for the challenge in only a few hours. After getting dressed, he made himself a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. It was foolish to go into a fight on an empty stomach. In addition to that, he stuffed a few ration bars into his pockets, since he was sure his teammates wouldn't eat anything that morning.

Quickly, he created four shadow clones, setting them to work on the techniques from the Forbidden Scroll. Then, ready to go, he set off towards Training Ground 11, using the Body Flicker. He was there in less than thirty seconds.

And, as it was only 5:30, he decided to simply wait there. About an hour and a half later, both Sakura and Sasuke showed up, looking exhausted and hungry.

Naruto was the first to speak. "Hey guys! What's up?"

Sasuke just shot him a dirty look as Sakura spoke her opinion, in a rather loud voice. "What's up? I woke up _really_ early, and then I didn't get to have breakfast! I'm starving!"

Turning to Sasuke, Naruto asked if he had skipped breakfast too. Taking his grunt as a yes, Naruto reached into his pockets and tossed ration bars to each of them.

They both caught them, but they both seemed confused. With a grin, Naruto explained. "Sensei told us that we probably shouldn't eat breakfast. It wasn't an order. Plus, going into battle on a full stomach is bad, but on an empty one it's worse. Anyways, about half of one bar will be plenty for each of you. Trust me on this one."

Sasuke was smart enough to see the logic in this, and turned away to munch away at his bar. Sakura, however, was a little bit skeptical. "Why should we trust _you_? You're the dumbest kid in our class!"

Naruto was saved from trying to explain himself by Sasuke speaking up. "Because it makes _sense_ Sakura. Now sit down, shut up, and eat!"

Not one to disobey her "true love", Sakura did as she was told, sat down, and began eating. The following silence seemed terrible to all three of them, though it was quickly broken by Naruto.

"So, what do you think the test will be?"

Sakura was the first to answer, as usual. "It doesn't matter. No matter what happens, we have Sasuke to get us through. He could probably beat Kakashi himself!"

Sasuke smirked, but Naruto just scoffed. "Sakura, that's foolishness and you know it. You two clearly don't understand the strength of a jounin."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, shooting him the "evil eye", and put his arrogance into words. "Naruto, it's _you_ who clearly doesn't understand strength. I'm in a different league than most people. Sure, Kakashi is strong, but I could beat Mizuki with ease, he can't be _that _much more difficult."

Naruto gaped. That was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. Sasuke took this for surprise at his ability, and smirked again. "So you finally see how hopelessly outclassed you are?"

Naruto then, suddenly, broke out into laughter. He knew that he was revealing a little too much of his real knowledge and attitude, but he wanted to pass.

About a minute later, Naruto stopped. "You're joking, right? I saw those fights, and Mizuki-sensei threw them! All to stroke your foolish Uchiha pride! It's _you_ that doesn't understand!

"The average chuunin is thrice as strong as the average genin, thanks to the difference in skill and experience. The average _jounin_ is thrice as strong as the average chuunin for the same reasons. The average _veteran_ jounin, one who's been at his position for five or more years, is about thrice as strong as a normal jounin, or an ANBU. Then, there're the ANBU captains. They tend to be as much as three times as strong as a _veteran jounin_! That's what Kakashi used to be! Do the math! In case you can't, that puts Kakashi at approximately _81_ times stronger than us! Get a _fucking_ grip on it! Our only remote hope to beat something involving him as an obstacle is to work as a team!"

Sakura just sat there, stunned. Sasuke, however, looked pissed. In his anger, he shouted about Uchiha superiority as he stomped off into the woods around them. _Probably to cut himself_.

In the meantime, Naruto turned to Sakura, who was beginning to stand up. "Listen, Sakura, I understand that you're seriously in love with the Uchiha, but the best way that you can help him would be to help me come up with a plan. He'll come back eventually."

Sakura was torn. She wanted to follow Sasuke, but she knew that Naruto was right. Seeing reason, she sat back down.

"Good! Now, where do we start?"

For about an hour, they talked, coming up with some rather good plans for beating Kakashi. They thought of all kinds of different tests, and how to deal with them.

Eventually, Sasuke came back, and they filled him in their plans. It was two hours after the scheduled start time when Sakura asked the question Naruto had been expecting from the beginning.

"Hey Naruto, when did you get so smart?"

"I'm a ninja Sakura. Deceit's the name of the game."

Both Sakura and Sasuke had dumb looks on their face, when Hatake Kakashi showed up next to all of them. "Yo, what'd I miss?"

Alright. A lot of you have been asking for more social interaction, and here it is. I don't really like writing it, and I don't feel I write it well, which is why I try and avoid it for the most part. Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Sensei

I do not own Naruto.

---------

Quick Recap:

Naruto masters the Shadow Clone technique, and is put on Team 7. He manages to make the other team members sit down with him and brainstorm strategies.

---------

---------

The three would-be genin simply stood there, looking at him.

Kakashi sighed. They weren't any fun at all. Well, that meant he had to get right to business. "Alright, the test is this: At my waist are two bells. Anybody who gets a bell passes, anyone who doesn't is sent back to the Academy. And I warn you: If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't succeed. Ready?"

The three students just nodded, settling into fight stances Naruto whispering to the other two, "You two take the bells."

Kakashi just pretended he didn't hear that, and shouted "Go!"

Immediately, the students sprang into action. Naruto came at Kakashi at a moderate speed, which really felt like a snail's pace to Naruto. His stance was the Academy Taijutsu style's offensive stance. It was textbook perfect, not a flaw in it. Kakashi, who had been expecting a total pushover with a berserker style, actually found himself preoccupied with Naruto.

However, that lasted only a little bit. When he finally got over his shock, he began to slowly work harder and harder. Naruto planted his hands on the ground, using them to swing into a crushing leg sweep. Kakashi simply jumped over the two legs. Then he spoke. "First lesson: Taijutsu." At this point, he threw a powerfully fast axe kick at Naruto's head, as it was swinging upwards from his standing up. Naruto, showing surprising agility, caught it with his hands; from there, he swung himself into a front flip, one leg extended. Before the leg could connect with Kakashi's head, though, Kakashi formed a few hand-seals and sunk into the ground. Naruto realized what his most probable target was, and began to run back to where he felt his teammates' chakra signatures. When he finally reached them, he noticed a distinct lack-of-Kakashi in the area. Sasuke quickly asked, "Where is he?"

"He's somewhere underground. Quick, in the trees, now!"

Naruto quickly followed his own command, and Sakura was quick to do the same. Sasuke, who still wasn't used to taking orders of any kind, was a bit slow. Before he too could leap into the air, a powerful hand reached up to his leg and pulled him straight down, into the Earth. Kakashi popped up in his place, grinning as best he could under his mask.

"Lesson two: Ninjutsu."

Then, Kakashi turned to the two remaining students in the trees. Quickly, he formed hand-seals. Suddenly, Naruto smelt horribly burning flesh, and a terrible screaming. Turning to his side, he saw Sakura being roasted alive, uttering hellish sounds. With a grin, Naruto used his powerful control over his chakra to temporarily halt its flow, disrupting the Genjutsu that he had been put under. When he was free, he shot a little bit of chakra into Sakura's arm, waking her from her trance before she fell out of the tree.

Then, jumping down from the tree and facing Kakashi, he began forming hand-seals for a rather simple technique he had learned from the library; sure, he didn't need hand-seals, but as far as he knew he was the only one who didn't need them, and so not using them would seem conspicuous.

Slamming his hands to the ground and guiding his chakra through them, he shouted the name of his technique. "Earth Release: Pillar!" Usually, it would only form a small pillar of Earth about as tall as the user, making for useful cover. However, with the amount of chakra Naruto used, it picked Kakashi up and rose fifty feet in the air. Immediately, he ran over to Sasuke and pulled him out of the soft dirt he was stuck in.

Now, with all three of them ready, the turned to face Kakashi as he jumped down, smiling his infamous eye-smile as he did so. The three of them converged on Kakashi from all directions, each supporting the other. Or rather, Sakura did her best to support Sasuke and Naruto did his best to support Sakura. Sasuke, always the loner, didn't give a damn about his teammates.

Kakashi was impressed. They were certainly capable of working as a team. "Congratulations! You all pass!"

Sakura just shouted "WHAT?", as Sasuke smirked and Naruto grinned.

Kakashi was glad that they had passed so easily, and explained. "Yup! The whole point of the exam was to see if you could work as a team, and it seems that you can! Admittedly, Sasuke here could use work in that department, but you two are willing to help. Meet me here in the same place tomorrow for a bit of training before we go and get our first mission. Sasuke, Sakura, dismissed."

Sasuke and Sakura were more than happy to get out of there, and that's what they did. Kakashi simply turned to Naruto. "Just how strong are you?"

Naruto shrugged. "Eh, about as strong as Sasuke. I just stayed at the bottom of the class 'cause I figured that being on Sasuke's team would get me to the Chuunin exams quicker."

Kakashi just gave him a dark look. "Oh, you were right about one thing. Sasuke _will_ get you guys to the Chuunin exams quicker, but he's an Uchiha. The pride of Konoha. No demon can hope to compare to him. But by all means, you're welcome to try."

With that, Kakashi disappeared, leaving Naruto to heave a sigh, and begin his daily exercises. _God dammit! My sensei's not only an obvious see-Naruto-only-for-the-Kyuubi kind of guy, but he's a fucking Uchiha-worshiper to boot! I mean really, god, what the _fuck_? Do you _hate_ me? Is that it?_

Suddenly, Naruto found his hatred towards his home village rekindled. If most people wanted him gone, who was he to stick around?

---------

---------

Admittedly, I'm going a bit far with the Sasuke favoritism thing, but it's a lot more fun that way. Furthermore, that's more or less how he treats them in canon.


End file.
